Quote:
Originally posted by troutman@Sep 8 2004, 07:18 AM
Perhaps the greatest novel ever written, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Other great works of literature by Melville, Poe, Bierce.
Great poets like Robert Frost, Walt Whitman.
As you admit yourself, great gifts in modern music such as jazz, blues and rock and roll. Rap and hip hop too. Just because you think something is "bad" culture does not disqualify it. Your take on rap sounds just like how our parents and grandparents felt about rock and roll.
The greatest scientific and cultural event in the history of mankind was the Apollo missions.
Two of the most famous people in the world are American athletes, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.
US developed and perfected most forms of modern media; motion pictures, television and radio. Many American movies are considered masterpieces (Ex. Citizen Kane, Godfather).
Influential political reforms; civil rights, constitution
I'll try to find you a comprehensive list that outlines American cultural acheivements, because you obviously did not take the time to look at any of the other links I provided above.
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Huck Finn the greatest novel ever? That's extremely, extremely miopic. It might, if it's lucky, be the greatest american novel ever written. I've never read anything by european scholars suggesting that Huck Finn ranks among the greats in world literature. Probably the most important internationally important american writer is Hemingway, and he is at best on par with Dostoyevsky or Marquez. Poe? Certainly no more significant than, say Kafka.
Music, Americans have been good with of late. Full credit there.
Most famous people in the world, Ali and Jordan? Somehow I think that someone like Beckham or Zidane might be more popular. Or, say, Pele?
Yup, many american movies are considered masterpieces. But they also produce a lot of utter crap. Italy, france, and russia, to name a few have also produced cinematic works that can be considered masterpieces. So not to discredit american filmmaking (which I would say is currently the US's best cultural export), they are certainly not head-and-shoulders above the rest of the world.
Civil rights? They existed in a lot of other countries prior to the American revolution. I'd say it's a black mark that the US reached a point where it needed a war to achieve civil rights for all citizens. Yes, they did the first written constitution. Full credit there.
Oh, and the world's oldest legislative assembly (in response to the earlier argument about democracy being a new idea) was in Iceland, approximately 930 ad.
Now, I don't want to discredit the US, as I think it's a great country, and produces some great cultural elements. Architecture would be one area not listed yet where the US has really done some impressive things. But it's really difficult to compare things across millenia. Is there anything the US has created that will endure the way the pyramids have? Is there a writer (or maybe a filmmaker?) in the US who will be considered an equal of Shakespeare five hundred years from now? Maybe, but it's really hard to say. There's a huge pro-american media machine that we're subjected to that says that pretty much everything that america creates is great. Obviously, not all of that is true, but there are some great things. Hard to say right now what is great and what isn't.